NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rockstar Games, a
publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO - News),
announced today the formation of Rockstar New England through the acquisition of
substantially all of the assets of Andover, MA-based Mad Doc Software, one of
the premier independent development studios in North America.

“The team at Mad Doc Software is extremely talented,” said Sam Houser, Founder
of Rockstar Games. “Bringing them within the Rockstar Games family will enhance
our core technology and further support our commitment to creating progressive
and innovative gaming experiences.”

Established in 1999 by Dr. Ian Lane Davis, Mad Doc Software has led development
on and provided contracting services for triple-A titles, with a particular
focus on artificial intelligence and networking. The studio most recently worked
with Rockstar Games on the Xbox 360 version of the critically acclaimed Bully:
Scholarship Edition.

“To be a part of Rockstar Games is an amazing opportunity for everyone here,”
said Dr. Davis, Studio Head of the new Rockstar New England. “We’re eager to
bring our expertise to bear in the character-driven, open-world stories that
make Rockstar Games titles so uniquely compelling.”

Actually, this is often NOT the case. It all depends on why the company is bought and whether or not needless redundancies are created by the purchase. Hell, it's often the case that one developer buys another just to remove competition... or to get their hands on an intellectual property.

I wasn't speaking in general terms. I was quite specific.

1) Mad Doc DOES NOT HAVE ANY IP. So, Rockstar obviously didn't buy them for that.

2) Rockstar didn' buy MadDoc to get rid of competition.

3) Given Mad Doc's recent history, my guess is that Rockstar bought them in order to have a separate studio to handle their ports; leaving the Rockstar brain trust to focus on new and/or existing IP. That being the case, the purchase makes perfect sense as its cheaper to own a studio that you have tight and focused control over, than to keep hiring them, going through the whole contract bullshit etc.

I guess that's true and hopefully, Rockstar will give them the resources to start making good games again. I don't know if the Star Trek game and EE3 turned out the way they did because they weren't given enough resources to make them good (I think the Star Trek title had to be developed in less than a year or something) but Mac Doc's name on something right away told me to wait for a lot of reviews and community opinion before even considering a purchase. Rockstar has also turned some of their acquisitions into just straight localization or QA studios too so this may happen here as well. I'm curious if we're going to see a bit of a bender of quick Take-Two studio acquisitions over the course of April as they attempt to fatten themselves to to stave off EA.

"At the end of the day, one company buying another means that people can keep working. Thats always a good thing."

Actually, this is often NOT the case. It all depends on why the company is bought and whether or not needless redundancies are created by the purchase. Hell, it's often the case that one developer buys another just to remove competition... or to get their hands on an intellectual property.

Well, uhm, there are many reasons to sell your studio. Dwindling revenues from games that didn't do well, would be one of them.

That farce that was Star Trek Legacy is still fresh in my mind. What a mess. Especially when you consider that Bethesda - who can afford it - was behind it. So its not like it was from an indie dev with limited resources, zero marketing etc.

At the end of the day, one company buying another means that people can keep working. Thats always a good thing.

Game developers are just human beings who happen to make games for a living. If you want to hold us up to higher standards of conduct, then go ahead...but don't be surprised if we don't uphold them

He can't have played Empire Earth 3 or Star Trek Legacy then. EE3 in particular, my god, what a terrible game.

Mad Doc is an example of a crap developer that just refuses to die. They're like a cat the way they always land on their fucking feet. They shoulda disbanded after EE3, but somehow they always survive.

This all said, they weren't responsible for either the original Empire Earth nor the original Star Trek Armada. While I'm pretty sure the first Armada was developed by an in-house team at Activision, the first Empire Earth was developed by Stainless Steel Studios.

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory was originally intended to be an expansion for RTCW, Activision turned it into a standalone because the single player overreached that it warranted being a full game. Singleplayer was going to be a very interesting AI team-based affair which at the time was rather innovative and, evidently, very ambitious.

It was eventually released as a free multiplayer-only game because while Splashdamage had nearly wrapped up the MP side, Mad Doc simply couldn't get their singleplayer to actually work.

Empire Earth was pretty good, EE2 & 3 were crap, though I may be biased because I liked the first one and they went in a totally different direction for 2 and 3. The rest of that list are all crappy games, hmmm they just trying to spoil the company until EA desides it isnt worth it anymore.

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Benjamin Franklin